The New England Patriots are set to play the Kansas City Chiefs this Sunday at 4:25PM. They’ll now be playing the Denver Broncos at the same time the following week.
In a bit of a head-scratching move, the NFL decided to flex the Pats/Broncos game out of its original 1PM slot and make it one of the late games instead.
The Broncos currently sit at 0-3 and don’t have much of a chance to win their division; they’ve been ravaged by injuries and just got handled by Tommy B and the Buccaneers. I’m guessing the thought process here is that Cam Newton, who seems to get better each and every week, is becoming something of a national draw with his play, and so the league is trying to capitalize on that appeal.
That said, the Broncos are one of those teams who always seem to give the Patriots all they can handle defensively, and New England is always all but guaranteed to drop at least one game they absolutely should have won, so maybe this one will live up to it’s national broadcast switch.
The Broncos are playing the awful, awful, awful Jets on Thursday night and will then have extra time to prepare for a Patriots team that will be coming off their toughest test of the season in KC.